![]() ![]() Stable democracies require an open exchange of valid information So once again, we adopt the strictly weather-sports-how’s-the-family conversational strategy. There, we pretty much “know” we’ll disagree, producing heated or wounding words. Many people today walk around with emblems of their political views on their clothes, their hats, their laptops, their cars – a signal we may take as reason to steer clear of any talk that goes beyond the weather or the Eagles game.īeyond that, most of us have an aunt, uncle, sibling, or parent with whom we have long found civil conversation about specific topics to be difficult if not impossible. The prospect becomes even more fraught when we suspect or know that the other person holds different opinions, perspectives, or positions from ours. al call “difficult conversations.” We feel we have to “hold our own,” to defend our identities, ideas, beliefs, and values. Things become even more problematic when we consider that our self-esteem and identity can be at stake in any conversation, particularly those Stone et. We know instances where people suffered painful consequences for “saying the wrong thing.” Thus, even the possibility of conversation may induce anxiety or reluctance. After all, what if we disagree? How will we handle that? In modern-day America, we have all seen or experienced plenty of experiences of such conservations going awry. Talking about such things with such a nodding acquaintance might be interesting, perhaps even rewarding. ![]() Or how they think about current events – local, national, or international. We don’t know their families, their history, how they spend their days, what media they consume. Principle 4: Redefine the win Valuing those with whom you disagreeīut what about the “familiar stranger” – someone who sits in the same class or office as we do, stands along the same soccer sideline, gets coffee at the same Wawa at the same time as us, or shows up at the same social events? And even when we do disagree, we are likely to be interested in their thinking and they in ours. We chat with them about current events, the shows we are binging, how our favorite teams are doing. We care about how and what they are doing, their health and their family’s. Our friends, of course, remain of interest to us. ![]()
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